It's a long way to Fire Nation  1
by bhut
Summary: Just think of this as the book 2.5  Aang has to recover and go to the Fire Nation, but a number of formidable foes both new and old have their own plans for the last airbender.
1. Chapter 1

_It is a hard way to Fire Nation – 1_

Disclaimer: the Avatar and other characters belong to Mike and Bryan.

**I**

"Well, that was fast," mused Zuko, as he made his way out of the catacombs back to the palace. "Things are happening fast indeed."

"I'm sorry, Zuzu, but what are you mumbling over here?" Azula asked, as she walked alongside him. "You're not having second thoughts _already_, now aren't you?"

"Oh no," Zuko shook his head. "My mind on this topic is made up once and for all - certainly not since you restored my honor… after arriving in all this grandeur," he coughed a bit on the last word.

"Ah, yes. I am good, aren't I?" Azula preened a bit more. "Took you a while to realize it, Zuzu, but I'm glad that you did – it'll make things just all easier. And don't worry – I'll be sure to tell father just how _invaluable_ you were at capturing the city."

"I wouldn't expect anything else from you, sister."

"Good. Now, Mai, Ty Lee, and I are going to have a little private party in regards of taking over the city, so… I guess I got to ask if you want to come?"

"Sorry, but too many old memories – like Lu Ten's parties when Ty Lee usually got the attention, and I had to-"

"I remember them, Zuzu," Azula cut him off abruptly, her good mood souring for the worse.

"And speaking of Lu Ten, remember the last birthday party of yours that he attended? It was just before he went off to die here. He certainly pulled-"

"I get you, Zuzu," now Azula sounded – and looked – really sour. "Have fun on your own." She abruptly stalked off, leaving Zuko behind her.

"Don't worry, sister," Zuko muttered, his eyes narrowing, as he observed a conveniently positioned Dai Li agent who looked as if he was trying to blend with the mural of the corridor wall, "I will."

For his part, the Dai Li agent did appear to be a bit suspicious of Zuko, as the Fire Nation's prince went over to him, determination evident in his gaze. However, he must have had a different set of orders, because when Zuko grabbed him by the collar and slammed into the wall, he was pretty much caught unawares.

"Your Highness?" he managed, looking rather like an antelope-deer caught between two hunters. "Wh-what?.."

"I have a question or two to ask you," Zuko snapped.

"What questions?"

"How about, why did you betray the city to the Fire Nation? You ran it, and you jumped Azula back in the catacombs as one, none of this would be happening? And speaking of Azula, how'd she know that you would betray the city in the first place?"

"I-I don't, I can't"

"Try," Zuko snapped, "or I will have to get persuasive." One of his fists flared up, but rather than making a whip, the flame formed into a short sword blade, and it was hot! It was still some inches away from his chin, when the collars of his robes began to crinkle from the heat. Clearly, the direct contact with such a flame would be very, very unpleasant.

"I am not Azula, I don't enjoy hurting other people just for the fun of it," Zuko said in the same menacing tone of voice. "However, you may consider this a sort of a before-taste of what my father's forces will do when they enter the city: our generals tend to distrust any new, enthusiastic allies and will probably do a bit of questioning session on their own, and they will be far less patient. Speak!"

"There's no need to intimidate Yuan, your highness," a new, very cultured, voice spoke-up from Zuko's right.

Zuko turned in that direction. A tall, balding man with a long braid and thin moustache, flanked by Dai Li, was staring at him, in a manner Zuko was rather familiar with.

"And you are?" he asked, still holding onto Yuan's collars.

"Ah," the man said, smiling coolly, "I am Long Feng, the deposed leader of the Dai Li."

"Judging from your smile, there's a joke in it somewhere," Zuko said wryly. "Can I hear it?"

"All in good time, your highness," Long Feng shook his head. "Right now I've heard that you got some questions you want answering?"

"Yes," Zuko nodded curtly. "Can you answer them?"

"Quite," Long Feng nodded in response. A small corridor opened in the wall to his right. "Let's go to my secret study and I'll explain it all – unless you want to join your sister's party after all?"

"What I want is irrelevant," Zuko shook his head. "What I need are explanations, sir."

"Then follow me," Long Feng replied, still smiling coolly. "I believe I can provide just that."

"Hey, Sugar-Queen – is Twinkletoes going to be okay?" Toph's usually gruff voice for once sounded genuinely concerned.

"I done all I could, Toph," Katara looked back at younger girl. "I sincerely hope that he will be alright, but I've never had to heal anything as bad as _that_ before."

"No argument of that," Sokka nodded in agreement for a change. "If Aang had been just a little bit less lucky, the Fire Bitch's blast would've snapped his spine clean in half, and then what we would do? Probably go back to North Pole and the Spirit Oasis, 'cause there'd be no way your little vial would be able to cure something like _that_."

"That little vial," Katara snapped, ignoring the fact that Sokka was actually complementing her of sorts and not insulting, "had just saved Aang's life!"

"That's what I'm saying!" Sokka said, "there's no need to snap my head off!"

"I am sorry, Sokka," Katara replied in contrition. _I just cannot believe that I almost wasted it on _Zuko _of the Fire Nation of all people! What was I thinking?_ However, in some tiny corner of her mind a tiny voice whispered: _not _what _was I thinking, but _what _I was thinking _with?

Way down below the flying bison, obscured by the hilly woodland, a number of riders on giant lizards, distantly resembling giant basilisks of the Fire Nation, dispassionately observed the flying creature.

"They are heading east, sir," spoke one of the observers, a man dressed in a manner similar to a Yu Yan archer's.

"Then they'll be going to the old guru, then," spoke the riders' leader, his face smirking with a predatory grimace. "Just I thought. Send a message with the Ore Echo to the general and Nguen."

"Shall we entrust it to those two, whom we pulled out of the metal box?" the archer's companion, a woman with blue eyes and a heavy lance, spoke up.

"See if they can. If not, ask Li or Ky – but get it done. It's time to see how well the Avatar deals when the pressure is kicked up a notch."

"Yes sir," the archer and the woman turned from the column's head and headed to its tail.

The retired general Iroh, former Dragon of the West, could not remember the time when he felt so dismal and wretched, not even when the members of his immediate family – first his wife, Ibiza, then his son Lu Ten – died, and he was helpless to do anything about this; however, this time it was worse.

"But what had happened? Where it all went wrong?" Iroh asked in helpless prayer the spirits, who seemed not too keen on answering him. "Zuko obviously changed; he understood – he began to understand – the real values in life! So where it all went wrong?!"

But the spirits kept their silence, and that silence had a very good reason: Iroh knew himself where it all went wrong – when Azula arrived. Zuko's younger sister had an uncanny ability to rattle the prince's cage whenever she wanted to, as today had shown.

Yet, even that was not quite the catalyst, for the last time Zuko and Azula met, it was as foes. Today, however, this was not quite so – today brother and sister fought as allies, and almost destroyed the Avatar!

"Damn it, Zuko," Iroh moaned. "Why did you do it? Do you still think that your honor is worth it? Do you still think that Ozai will welcome you?"

"Well, sir, I think the answers to these questions are a bit more complex than you'd like them to be."

Iroh whirled around. "Who said that?"

"A bit more down, venerable sir, if you please."

Iroh looked down. And gasped. A slim little vixen with dark black fur and glowing eyes was looking at him through the bars on his cell. "Did you just speak to me?" Iroh whispered, feeling very foolish.

"Yes, venerable sir, I just did," the vixen nodded her neat little muzzle.

"I don't believe it! A kitsune!" Iroh whispered with an almost child-like adoration. "But why are you here? Are you here to forebode my doom?"

"No, venerable sir, I bring you news of hope, not despair. You will be freed."

"The Avatar? Is he coming to my aid?" Iroh said incredulously.

"I am afraid not," the vixen shook her muzzle this time. "He got trials of his own to overcome before he is ready to challenge Ozai. I speak of your nephew, Zuko."

"My nephew…" Iroh whispered, his spirits falling once more. "I thought I knew him once, I don't know that that's the case anymore."

"Apparently not, venerable sir, for otherwise you would not try to have him help the Avatar of his own volition. He was not quite ready for _that_ – yet."

"But he freed the Avatar's bison!" Iroh spoke, feeling confused.

"Because you told him to, and he listens and respects you, venerable sir. If you told him to help the Avatar back then, he would've done that too."

"I know that," Iroh shook his head. "But that was not the way! Zuko's destiny-"

"With all due respect, venerable sir," the vixen's voice sharpened, "you really shouldn't talk about your nephew's destiny without putting your own in order!"

"What do you mean?"

"Venerable sir, you're the Dragon of the West, it is not your destiny to serve tea or even sell it!"

Iroh froze, and then he seemed to collapse upon himself. "But is it so wrong-"

"Yes! Realization and repentance is only a part of the process, restitution is there as well! Prince Iroh, I know that your own perception of yourself has changed, but _your_ destiny_ is_ written in the stars, and a tea shop is not in them."

"But what is my destiny, then? What can I do here in this cell?"

"For now, sir, just sit, and wait, and see what will come up," the vixen replied, getting back to her feet. "But do not worry – things will get better after this." With these words she turned around and trotted down the corridor, the blackness of her fur merging with the surrounding gloom, leaving Iroh caught between hope, and fear of hoping.


	2. Chapter 2

_It is a hard way to Fire Nation – 1_

Disclaimer: the Avatar and other characters belong to Mike and Bryan.

**II**

"Nice place, sir," Zuko said calmly, as he looked around the surroundings. "Very private and business-like, I have to say."

"You forgot to add green," Long Feng said with the same cold smile. "But I suppose that's obvious. Yet where are my manners? Please – sit."

Zuko just shook off the offer. "So, the answers, sir?"

"Ah yes, the answers… hmm. Can you remind me of your questions, your highness?"

"Let me put them as pointedly as possible – what are you thinking? Azula is unlikely to tolerate you for long unless you let her do whatever she wants, and the generals will probably have you executed just on principle, so that they could pin the city's capture for themselves in the history scrolls."

"Very true," Long Feng nodded calmly. "I know that people from Fire Nation are – as a rule – very hot-tempered and short-fused. However, there are exceptions."

"Such as?"

"Such as your father, with whom I used to have correspondence."

"What?" Now Zuko sat down, though mostly it was because his legs suddenly felt cut-off from under him. "How?"

"It was at the time of the first siege," Long Feng mused. "I led the Dai Li by then already, and I also knew that an army led by such formidable generals as your uncle and the ronin Chang-ho will have no problems in breaking down the city's walls, whose formidability, it pains me to admit, was always somewhat exaggerated."

"So, you should've talked with uncle Iroh, him being the army's commander-in-chief."

"Your uncle, I dare to say, was always a bit old-fashioned when it came to such things – the old-school military commander, an aristocrat through and through, good in strategy, not so in tactics, disliked the scouts and similar irregulars profoundly, and so forth. Not to mention, he was a populist – he sought glory to influence people to follow him, he would never agree to something as rational and inglorious as a negotiated surrender. However, your father Ozai, at that time just a prince, was a man of a different mold – a man tired of war and the control of the military aristocracy who thought that making war was the only way a noble man could spend time in, and never gave much thought to peace. Therefore, I began to communicate with him in secret, suggesting, quite honestly, that _both_ of us might benefit from this action. That agreement was lying unsigned practically in our pockets! But the unpredictability of fate! Your cousin, prince Lu Ten, died at the siege from a stray arrow, and your uncle broke to pieces, abandoning the military theatre and making a truce. But the city was yours for the taking! Your father, Ozai, tried to explain this to your grandfather, Azulon, but the old Lord must have grown irascible and dare I say unhinged from the loss of his grandson, and declared your own execution, according to my messenger to your father of that time. Fortunately, for you, though, Azulon died on that very night, and your father ascended to the throne. However, though, this also meant that the city's surrender had to be delayed, as your father had to deal with some homeland intrigues first and firm-up his rule."

"That's very interesting, but-"

"Incidentally, your highness, I kept the letters from our correspondence – see?" and Long Feng handed over to Zuko a rather big stack of parchment rolls. "If you want, you can read them."

"And I will," Zuko nodded ascent as he took the rolls. "But I still have some questions left, unfortunately, starting with my sister."

"Ah yes, your sister, Azula. She, I fear, had inherited this hauteur of the nobility, this concept that blood is the only thing that counts. Now, I am not saying that it is completely wrong, but I am saying that your sister could have used a bit more tact-"

"Azula doesn't have much tact or charm when she feels that she doesn't need them," Zuko interrupted, "and that is not the question I want to ask, either."

"I know that, your highness, I was just thinking of the best way to answer your questions."

"That would be the honest way, then."

Long Feng gave Zuko a sharp look, but the prince's face looked so bland and neutral, that his gaze softened. "Very well, we'll go the long way. As you know, there were talks of the war ending at least in this lifetime, in which case my city would end up in an unenviable position of being saddled with an incompetent Earth King, trapped between Fire Nation forces in both west and east."

"I wasn't aware that we had much of the force in the east."

"Your highness forgot about the general Chang-ho!"

"Chang-ho," Zuko said softly, as if musing over the name. "But if he is still alive, would he be just like Iroh? You know, feeling his age just a bit?"

"Not at all, your highness, not at all! Unlike your uncle, general Chang-ho is still as sharp and powerful as ever, in his strength, his wits, and his bending! And just like before, he hates the Avatar and his allies!"

"Did you say – the Avatar?" Zuko immediately stiffened.

"Why, so I did," Long Feng said with a small smile seeing Zuko's immediate reaction. "The ancestor of general Chang-ho was defeated and killed by Avatar Kyoshi when he was unifying the Earth Kingdom into one country. In fact, contrary to all this rubbish of balance between the nations, Avatar Kyoshi was often interfering in the politics-"

"Sir, can we get to the present and my sister?" Zuko interrupted.

"Right," Long Feng nodded, recovering his train of thought. "Here's the thing. Despite the efforts of my liaison in Chang-ho army, Hsu Wu, the good general remains somewhat suspicious of my plans to join the Fire Nation. He himself is a good vassal of your father and homeland, albeit a bit forgotten over the geographic distance. Moreover, here is when we return to Kyoshi. You see, your highness, the Kyoshi Island and its inhabitants do not consider themselves part of the Earth Kingdom due to the influence of Avatar Kyoshi herself, who is worshipped there as if she was an ancestor spirit of some sort or other! As such, when the Kyoshi warriors agreed to join the coalition of the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes against the Fire Nation and its' allies, they got a lot of benefits – trade and such – in exchange for their services, which would've been disastrous for our already struggling economy- anyways, few people, including the Council of Five, regretted it much after Kyoshi warriors perished at the battlefield instead, and even less people rejoiced when their descendents offered the same again. These Kyoshi warriors were just shuffled out of the way – Council of Five's idea – but one of them, Midori, decided to join us instead."

"And you let her?"

"Let's just say I am not averse to strong women – in Joo Dee ranks. However, she also gave us the location of the rest of her crew, and we were planning to take them as a peace offering to the general, when your sister came upon them and defeated them very soundly. My agents, of course, were impressed by this bending display, and pretty much recruited her on the spot."

"You disagreed, I guess?"

"Precisely. Almost anyone knows that good bending does not mean perfection, and your sister demonstrated it very well. The Dai Li aren't aristocracy, they come from humble roots, and they are very displeased with your sister's attitude."

"So, this is where I come in?"

"Oh yes. By your homeland's law, Ba Sing Se will have to have a commandant of the Fire Nation descent, and of noble blood. Prince Zuko, I, the Dai Li, and our allies want you to be the commandant."

"I see," Zuko said, clearly shaken up. "My sister, though-"

"Your sister will leave tomorrow to your home bearing a letter of your shining actions in securing Ba Sing Se unlike hers. She will be accompanied by a retinue of the Fire Nation's allies, who'll provide security and witnesses to this event."

"I see," Zuko said his mouth agape from the excitement. "I guess that Chang-ho will provide the retinue? Good, because I quite want to meet the great general."

"Not quite, prince Zuko," Long Feng shook his head in contrition. "The great general is currently heading eastwards to the Chameleon Bay to destroy some rebels who made their camp there. However, he sent his representative, Hsu Wu – who by a stroke of luck is also my liaison in the general's army – an adjutant of his and the captain of his scouts, to represent him when we sign this accord."

Long Feng produced another scroll to Zuko. Once again, the prince's eyes widened slightly from what he read. "So, when will I meet this Hsu, then?"

"Tonight, your highness. Yuan over there will help you get unnoticed from the city, and will give you a map with which to orient yourself once you are outside. Any more questions?"

"No, sir," Zuko shook his head, already deep in thought.

Long Feng smiled to himself. Like all of his smiles, this one lacked any human warmth.

"So, this is an Air Temple? It's amazing!" the Earth King said almost breathlessly as he and others climbed off Appa and looked around. "And what interesting architecture style too!"

"Yeah, yeah," Toph grumbled, "but what for are we here, Appa? You brought us here, but what for?"

"Because I was waiting for you, of course."

Everybody whirled around when they heard the elderly male voice. Only, Bosco did not move, so the Earth King fell over him, and Momo did not react either, so he fell into Sokka's shirt, causing the Water Tribe boy to start jumping wildly, as the lemur wiggled over his back under the clothing.

"And who are you?" Toph asked coolly, ignoring the antics of Sokka trying to catch Momo and the Earth King trying to get back up over Bosco.

"Ah, I am Pathik, the guru of this temple. I was teaching the Avatar to master the state."

"Didn't do a very good job, then," Toph snapped.

"Toph!" Katara was appalled, but Pathik raised his palm in sign of agreement.

"I am afraid your friend is right, miss Katara. I did not do a very good job with your friend, and right now, I need to heal his spirit as your skill has healed his body."

"So what are we supposed to do while you do that?" Toph insisted.

"Please! Walk around the temple, relax and relieve yourself. You will be facing dire labors soon enough, for now you should rest."

"All right, maybe we will. But what about Aang?"

"I'll take care of him… inside." Without any effort, the old man picked up the Avatar's body and vanished with it inside the temple.

"Did he just do what I saw he did?" Sokka asked, and jerked. "Ai! Momo! Not down the pants!"

The army column moved ponderously and slow, like the foo turtle of the ancient days. However, unlike any beast of past or present, it also moved with a lot of noise, as various war machines, beasts of war, and many hundreds of men did little to hide their progress, nor did they care to – for now.

"Sir, sir?" one of Chang-ho cavalry officers drove up to the general. "We got a message from Hsu about the Avatar!"

"WHAT?" the following bellow caused the army to shortly halt, and a huge paw of a hand grabbed the unlucky officer by the collar and lifted him from his steed. "The Avatar? Where?!"

"He was seen flying in the direction of the coastal area."

"To the rebels?"

"No, further north. There's an old temple of the Air Nomads, supposedly abandoned…"

"So what if it is abandoned?" Chang-ho's voice quieted down to his usual stormy rumble. "Nguen!"

"Yes, general?"

"I'll be taking the cavalry and heading to the old temple. If the Avatar is there, I must try to kill him. You – go on leading the army to the Chameleon Bay. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Nguen nodded.

"Thanks for the assistance, Toph," Sokka grumbled, as he was busy cleaning up his clothes from dirt and lemur fur. "For a blind girl you are sure more useful than Katara is."

"Yeah, yeah, just don't get carried away thinking that I'll do that to you next time," Toph shrugged, but continued to lean to Sokka.

The two friends were sitting at an edge of the temple's garden, with their back to the fruit and ornamental trees and the faces towards the seacoast. The sun was setting; in fact, it was already more than halfway below the horizon, and over it, clouds – or fog – were forming already. The wind was blowing, keeping the mosquitoes away, but the various crickets and katydids of the garden were slowly preparing their instruments for their nightly concert. And far underneath the temple's high walls, the sea was rumbling its eternal song.

"Ah, what a fine evening this is turning out to be," Sokka sighed. "Even without the meat. The sun is setting, the sea is sighing, and the birds are singing… maybe I'll write a haiku!"

Toph snorted. "Oh, you Meathead. Firstly, the sun has practically set-"

"No, it hasn't. There's still an edge of it peaking over the mountains, see?"

There was an embarrassed pause. "You're right," Toph said faux-brightly, "how could I not see it? It's so bright and shiny!"

Sokka groaned. "Okay, this was my bad, but how did you know that it set in the first place? You are blind, you know? Ow!" Sokka was bent a couple of inches into the air. "Toph that hurt!"

"Sorry, Meathead," Toph sighed. "Look, I am blind, but I do generally know when it's night or day - the latter is brighter than the former, you know?"

"Well yes, but how-"

"I just know, okay? I can know when it is bright or dark, and don't try to explain it to you, all right? "

"Fine."

"Anyways, ignoring the fact that it's night now, there are no birds signing; in fact, there are only the bugs, and they're singing… like it'll be a storm soon or something!"  
"I don't know," Sokka again had doubts. "It is somewhat cloudy and hazy right now, but a storm? Maybe sometime around the morning, I don't know…"

Toph just rolled her sightless eyes. "This is the last time I try to bond with you, you Meathead!"

Aang was freaking out. One moment – he is in the catacombs, the next – he was here, in a very impressive-looking

"Where, where am I? Katara? Sokka, Toph? Appa, Momo? Anybody? Where am I?"

"You are in my home, Avatar Aang, so please behave yourself, and do not make your other incarnations be embarrassed on your behalf," spoke a cultured voice.

Aang whirled around, and saw a face and torso of a very refined-looking lady with milky-white skin and cold golden eyes. A low-slung table set with a tea set for several people, though, obscured everything below the woman's waistline.

"Is this a party?" Aang asked the first thing that came to his mind.

"You can say that. It's something of an intervention party, though."

"Intervention, what's that?"

"It means, Avatar, that we get to criticize you a bit," the woman explained further, as she took with her claw-like nails a delicate porcelain teacup.

"Hah?" Aang was lost. "What did I do?"

"It's more what you didn't do, Avatar," another voice spoke up from behind Aang.

The young monk whirled around. Another woman standing there, a woman with leaves and branches in her hair, and her green clothes were covered in purple-blue berry blotches. And behind her stood-

"Hei Bei? That you?" Aang said, unable to believe. "What are you doing here?"

"Holding an intervention party for you – duh!" said the woman with leaves in her hair. "My name is Azee, and the woman over there is lady Bei."

"Are they?" Aang said vaguely, indicating the similarity between the two spirits' names.

"Perhaps," shrugged Azee, "but you got bigger problems."

"Yeah, I know, I got to master fire, I got to get to Fire Nation, I got to-"

"-master yourself," the voice of lady Bei was just as white, smooth, and cold, as the rest of her. Despite that, however, Aang almost fell backwards from the unexpectedness.

"What?" he managed, after he got back on his seat. "What do you mean?"

"Avatar Aang," lady Bei continued, apparently ignoring Aang's earlier struggles to regain his seating, "do you know what you have done?"

Aang paused, thinking. "You're talking about the guru, don't you?" he finally said, his mood changing to misery now.

"That too. You have a mission on your hands, Avatar, and because of it you cannot afford to be distracted."

"If this is about love, if this about Katara-"

"You think you love Katara, don't you?" lady Bei interrupted the young airbender once more.

For a few seconds Aang's mouth just opened and closed in vain, but then he managed to regain his control over himself. "Yes, I do," he said slowly. "What of it?"

"What of it?" lady Bei's voice was now full of incredulity, "what of it? You don't recognize what you have done, have you?"

"No, what?"

"You have died, Avatar. You have essentially failed and died."

Once again, Aang's mouth opened and closed in vain. "I, I died?" he muttered in vain.

"Yes. Azula has killed you in the catacombs under Ba Sing Se," lady Bei's voice was once again dry and passionless, almost inhuman, just like a spirit's should be. "If it wasn't for the water from Spirit Oasis, you'd be dead within minutes – but due to it, you get a second chance of saving the world."

"Um, yay?" Aang said meekly.

Lady Bei just sighed and sipped her tea. At least Aang hoped that it was tea. For some reason, he was beginning to have doubts about it.

"You just don't want to understand, do you?" Azee spoke up from behind Aang. This time, though, the young airbender managed to keep his balance. "The time given to this world is running out. The Four has created this world out of the primeval elements - water, earth, fire and air, and the Fifth has sworn to undo their creation one way or another. Only the Avatar was able to stop the Fifth the first time, and only the Avatar must stop him now!"

"But am the Avatar!" Aang gulped. "Uh, who is the Fifth?"

"Due to your actions, Avatar," the time lady Bei's voice was full of sarcasm, "you no longer will be able to get this knowledge in time. You had your hour, but you were not the man!"

"This is about Katara, isn't it?" Aang finally got a clue. "Look, I am sorry if I didn't do what I was supposed to do-"

"Sorry won't cut it!" the voice of the milky-white spirit cut like a whip. "What do you know about love, boy? True love does not come from just good looks; it comes straight from the heart! If you loved Katara truly, you would not have to worry about how she'll manage without you!"

"Don't be too rough on him, lady Bei," Azee's voice lost of its earlier cheerfulness as well. "He is a boy, he lived in an iceberg and in a monastery, what does he know of love and of women?"

"They're built differently?" Aang said before he could think. Azee slapped him. "Ow! What?"

"A boy," lady Bei's voice was even more impassionate than before. "A mere teenage boy with all the ad's and dis's. Oh, Avatar Aang, what have your choices made you into?"

A low growl interrupted her musing. "Hei Bei is right, your ladyship," Azee spoke up. "Time grows short."

"Why, so it does," lady Bei finally put down the cup. "All right, Avatar, listen up. Though the damage your actions have wrought is great, right now it is still not too late. The Dragon of the West will assist your force, but Black Dragon's minions stand in your course. You must find your nirvana, or else the Avatar cycle is no more. Got it?"

"What's a nirvana?" Aang squeaked.

"Too late, you must learn it on your own!" Azee snapped and slapped him once more.

And Aang woke up.


	3. Chapter 3

_It is a hard way to Fire Nation – 1_

Disclaimer: the Avatar and other characters belong to Mike and Bryan.

**III**

Mai was bored, Deadly, deathly bored, and she blamed it all on… Azula. For some reason, the princess was unable to secure her brother for their little take-over victory party, and in fact came to it in a foul mood herself, muttering something about "stupid dead Lu Ten and his stupid dead friends". Naturally, this rather effectively spoilt the party mood… at least for Mai, for Ty Lee was always in a pro-party, Azula being in a foul mood or not, but obviously, with Azula no longer interested in it, and Mai uninterested in it without Zuko, the party flopped, and the three girls went their separate ways, rather reluctantly in case of Ty Lee, in search of other things to do.

For Mai's part, she intended to find Zuko and see, what he has been up to since he was exiled. She wanted to see just how bad the scar was, just how much those last years have changed him since he was exiled and she went to live in Omashu that is New Ozai. She wanted to meet him, to see him, to talk with him, to explain, possibly, why she did not write to him while he was away…

"Hey, Zuko, what you've been up?"

Ty Lee. Talking, presumably, to Zuko. Mai's walking pace increased sharply, but due to the twisting nature of the palace's corridors, she was having problems locating the pair.

"Hey, I remember you. You are Ty Lee, right? The friend of Azula who wanted to be a dancer?"

"Aw, you remembered my name!"

"Well, yes. Azula didn't have any real friends besides you two, and I remember that I always danced with the other friend, Mai."

"That's right! You two looked so cute together!" Ty Lee squealed excitedly. "Did you have time to remember your steps, though? I bet Mai would be real excited to dance with you once again!"

"That's not funny, Ty Lee," regret and sadness were clear in Zuko's voice. "I was dishonored and exiled; your families are friends with the Fire Lord. I am sure Mai had plenty of "help" to get over me."

"Nuh-uh," Ty Lee replied in a singsong voice. "Mai never really forgot you, you know? She still thinks about you and all that, and if you give her a bouquet of lilies and a basket of peaches, she will definitely say yes. Or maybe, given your past history, she'll prefer some juicy red apples instead?"

"Ty Lee!" Mai howled, as her usually pale cheeks turned red. Teasing her about Zuko is one thing, but such blatant matchmaking is another! "When I find you-!"

"Did you hear something?" Ty Lee asked innocently, but Zuko interrupted her.

"Probably just the wind or something, this palace is like a city in itself. But can I ask you a question that _doesn't_ concern Mai."

"Oh sure."

"Does, eh, my aura look the same to you as it did before I was exiled? I've been thinking a bit about it lately you know?"

There was a sudden lull in the conversation that ironically forced Mai to stop. Without their voices to guide her, Mai was in fact a bit lost in the palace's corridors. She wondered briefly if she should yell for Zuko and Ty Lee to re-start talking, but realized that that was wrong on so many levels…

Fortunately, at that moment, Ty Lee spoke up again, and Mai hurried on. She did not like where the conversation was heading, everybody knew that Ty Lee was just making it up about her able to see auras, right?

"I got to admit, Zuko, you got me stumped," Ty Lee's voice now sounded more serious than it usually was. "Your aura is quite a bit more complex than it was when I last saw you."

"And that's a good or a bad thing?"

"Zuko, an aura isn't a "good" or a "bad" thing; it's more of a "thing" thing. It does not affect you; it's a more truthful reflection of your inner self instead."

"So?"

"So, when I say that your aura has grown more complex than before, it means that you're now a more complex person than before as well, personality-wise."

"And that's not a "good" or a "bad" thing; it's more of a "thing" thing, right?"

"You got it."

"Yes, but-"

"Ah, there you are!" Mai tried to pretend that she was not running for the last few minutes, but not quite managed to do it. "What are you two talking about?"

"Auras," Ty Lee replied innocently. "What did you think we were talking about? No, wait, let me guess – your aura has acquired this rather impressive coat of turquoise-green sheen, so-"

"Are you sure that you're not talking about her clothing?" Zuko interrupted, seeing Mai's eyes narrow into glaring slits. "It's green too, you know. Anyways, Mai, good to see you to. How's traveling with my sister? Still the same before I left?"

"I don't know, why don't _you_ tell _me_?" contrary to her earlier intents, Mai snapped at Zuko instead. "You're the one who ruined her earlier party mood."

"Sorry," Zuko did not look very sympathetic at all. "I guess I am not much for parties right now."

"But you're going out to town," Ty Lee pointed out.

"Yes, to get some closure with the city," Zuko looked away from the two girls. "It was really full of learning experiences for me, you know?"

"Yeah, I think I do," Ty Lee spoke up before Mai could. "Just be back before the curfew, all right?"

Something like a smile touched Zuko's lips and vanished. "Thanks, Ty Le. You haven't changed much at all."

Zuko left.

"Whoa!" Aang's eyes popped open. "This, this is-"

"Glad to see you back among the living mortals, Avatar," an elderly voice startled Aang back into brief silence.

"Guru Pathik! I am sorry about what I did-"

"Avatar," the guru interrupted the young boy, "I know that you are, and I know that you will be too, but what's done is done, I'm afraid, and apologies won't really assist you this time. The time of talking is almost gone; the time of acting is almost upon you."

"Are you saying that the day of the eclipse is almost upon us?" Aang asked incredulously.

"No, Avatar, there's still time before _that_, but it is a hard way to the Fire Nation that lies before you still."

"I don't know," Aang looked unsure. "I mean, there is always Appa, and then Sokka mentioned something about his father's fleet in the Chameleon Bay…"

Guru Pathik shook his head. "I did not mean this literally, young Avatar. The way before is hard not because of the physical obstacles, but also because of the lessons you will have to learn on your own on the way now."

At these words, something in Aang's mind connected together. "It's because I left for Katara, isn't it?" he asked quietly. "I did not manage to open the chakras completely, did I?"

"Actually, this is only the part of a problem," the guru sighed. "My life, like the life of all other living things in this world, is finite; it has a beginning and an end, and mine is almost upon me."

"What?" Aang was shell-shocked. "You're dying? Should I call Katara? She is a master healer-"

"Avatar, sit," the guru shook his head. "You must learn to slower your pace a little and stop jumping to assumptions. But from me, though, you must hear the tale of the Four and the Fifth."

"The Four and the Fifth? The spirits who held an intervention party on my behalf mentioned them…"

"They did? Good. Now listen."

"Sir? Your Excellency? We are here, and the Avatar must not have noticed us, for his bison is there, it has not left!"

"I can see that, Li Fo. Tell Qeng Yi to prepare for the assault. We will use the sudden strike strategy, so tell the men to muzzle their steeds. We shall catch the Avatar unaware after all!"

The temple's gardens, Katara thought idly, were truly amazing. They had even a little decorative stream complete with a little water wheel with it. Oddly, though, there were no fish in it, but Katara presumed that at this altitude the warmth-loving Earth Kingdom fish probably would not live too well.

The dragonflies and other insects, on the other hand, seemed to be managing just fine. Even though the sun set already, and a light film of hazy clouds or fog was starting to obscure the sky, the insects were seemingly just getting started on their concert, and the flowering shrubs among which Katara crouched down to rest smelt extra potent as well, as if before a thunderstorm.

Katara sighed. She wondered briefly if she should have taken Sokka and Toph up on their offer and joined them at the miniature willow copse at the garden's edge to look over the sea, but then she realized that she had too much personal thinking to do to be good company to them, and to consider them good company as well.

Katara gently grubbed a woody branch of a shrub and smelled the flowers growing on it some more. However, she would rather shave off her hair loops than admit it aloud, but she did understand from where Sokka's rather irritating interest in girls came from – pretty much from the same source as her interest boys came – from those forced months of loneliness with just older women and little children for company. Not that she minded as much as Sokka had; in fact she was kind of missing Gran-Gran by now as strongly as she missed dad – Sokka at least was lucky enough to manage to visit him before it all went to pieces.

Sighing yet again, Katara pushed the flowering branch away from her. It was just stupid to think about Zuko and even more stupid to get angry with him; rather, at this moment, Katara was angry with herself. What was she thinking, believing that he had changed, that he was going to help her against his sister? He never exactly gave clues that he changed, no matter what he said at their parting shots; he was still pretty much who he was, and used to be… No, the person changed in that little fiasco was her. She changed, because she grown desperate enough even to give Zuko a chance at her heart...

True, Aang, Sokka, and even Toph were great friends and traveling companions, but Katara wanted something else now, someone else. Not just a friend, but a boyfriend – just as Sokka wanted a girlfriend in his life, someone to settle down, make a house, raise a kid or two… only she, unlike Sokka, did not have any successes in this area. For all – or despite - of his posturing and grumblings, Sokka so far usually managed to bag a girl in every nation (except for Air Nomads, who were currently represented in the body of Aang alone, so they didn't count) – Yue, Suki, that freaky Fire Nation girl with chi-blocking fighting technique… even Toph seemed to have developed a sort of a crush on him by now. And Katara currently had… no one. Except for Aang, but Katara had to admit that she wasn't' sure that their Avatar friend was whom she had in mind for a boyfriend, not to mention she felt a bit daunted by the prospect of needing to repopulate the entire Air Nomad race on their own. She wanted just one or two kids, three tops, not regular jackalope litters!

But if Aang was out, and Zuko was not really in, and Jet was dead because she did not remember about her Spirit Oasis' water in time, who was left then? Haru? Katara grimaced. For some reason – maybe because she also remembered a bit about his family – she was not sure that she was very keen on marrying him, for some reason she wondered that Haru might be happier with somebody….on his own team, so to speak.

"So Aang is out, and Zuko was never in, and Haru was never in… oh, why I didn't remember about the magic water in time!" Katara exclaimed… and froze. Something was wrong – the insects abruptly fell silent… and there was nothing, but some sort of a heavy sound… almost like breathing.

"Up on your feet, girl, and keep your arms away from your body and each other," a deep, cavernous voice rumbled way over her head as she slowly got on her feet. "And don't even think of bending or anything, or you will bleed to death slowly."

Slowly, keeping her arms and hands way away from the body, Katara turned around, and stared – up, up, and up. The biggest, hairiest man she ever saw was looming right above her, dressed in the clothing of a high ranking Earth Kingdom's military officer, save for an armored chestplate and a very big and long sword in his belt.

"Had a good look girl?" the man seemed very unimpressed with Katara's behavior at this point. "Now listen carefully – I want the Avatar. Surrender him to me and you may live."

Instead of replying coherently, Katara turned back her head, and screamed.


	4. Chapter 4

_It is a hard way to Fire Nation – 1_

Disclaimer: the Avatar and other characters belong to Mike and Bryan.

**IV**

Mai looked like she was going to slap Ty Lee on both cheeks. Hard. "Just what is going on in that head of yours?" she felt dangerously close to losing control. "First you tell him outright to formally propose to me with flowers and fruit, all according to custom, and then you abruptly tell him instead to go out into the city for… for some loose women and… and stuff?"

"Mai, relax," Ty Lee sidled away from her usually stoic friend – just a tad. "I've read his aura; he has no intention of propositioning any "loose woman" tonight."

Mai glared. "Ty Lee, you know that I never believe in your aura thing, all right? I know that it is a big thing in your family, but can you please keep it in your family as well? Nobody believes in this anymore, it is so… Air Nomad, you know?"

"Mai?" Ty Lee looked actually chastised for a change. "I know that you're my friend and all, but can you please listen me? Your aura-"

Mai pulled a blade out of her sleeve and prepared to throw it. Ty Lee's eyes narrowed. Obviously, Zuko's presence was more powerful on Mai than what even Ty Lee thought. "Let's try again," Ty Lee sidled some more. "Mai, do you really think that Zuko is the type of a guy to go out for some "loose women"? Honestly?"

"I don't know," the blade returned into the sleeve, "I do remember the tales of my mother and her friends how general Iroh was a real womanizer, and I'm worried that he might've tried to do that to Zuko…"

"Oh?" Ty Lee's eyebrows rose upwards. "You forget – he's still a single man, he isn't womanizing, he's more like…having closure. With the city."

Mai felt as if her blood was on fire from Ty Lee's remarks, but she remembered how Zuko broke Ty Lee's stride in the conversation, and decided to try the same. "You something, Ty Lee, I realized that I can argue with you all night and come to nothing, so you know what? If Zuko wants "closure", he can have it – with me. Therefore, you better be wearing some of your gymnast style clothing under all these robes, for we are going out. Ty Lee – forward march!"

"Aye-aye, captain Mai!" Ty Lee turned around, smirking wryly. Her friend still did not understand many of the finer points in life, including the new version of Zuko. However, she was going to learn.

(Moreover, Ty Lee was right, but she was also wrong – both of them were going to learn a lot new things of life, and few of them were going to be pleasant.)

Just like his first visit to the guru, Aang felt uneasy in the guru's presence; but if back then he was uneasy because he was partially unsure and partially awed, now he felt uneasy because he knew that something was wrong; in fact, he _knew_ what the wrong "thing" was.

"I should have never returned to Ba Sing Se in such a condition," Aang whispered to himself rather than to the guru. "I probably caused more harm than good back then."

"I am afraid you are correct, avatar," the guru's response startled Avatar and he barely managed to regain his balance, "but now you must stop self-realizing and start listening! Heed my words, for time is almost gone!"

_It was the beginning of all things. Nothing but darkness, unbroken save for the cold light of the planets and stars twinkling in the distant parts of it, and the for the restless wind, who wandered from one end of the first world to another. That wind was Shu, the spirit of Air, and he was lonely. _

_Therefore, driven by his loneliness, Shu began to seek companionship of others, but he could not find them, for he was the First. However, his travels were not in vain – as he sought companionship among the stars, his essence touched them, and their gentle breath warmed them, and they – in time – awoke and became the star spirits, the guardian spirits of all just mortals of the world._

_But Shu, the restless traveler from one end of the first world to another did not know that, not until he made a full circle and came back to where he started, and found the first of the awoken star spirits. And so overjoyed he was that he was no longer alone, that Shu began to sing, and it was the first love song in the world, and it was the most potent, for it warmed further the first star spirit's still-cold heart, and it – and she blazed into full glory, and became Sol, the spirit of Sun and Fire._

("Did you say _soul_, guru Pathik?"

"No, avatar, the spirit of Sun and Fire is _Sol_. But we'll come to this similarity in a minute.")

_Therefore, Shu's song of love and companionship transformed the first of all the cold star spirits into Sol, the Spirit of Sun and Fire, and their new feelings for each other were so strong, that where Shu sang with just one voice, Sol now joined him, and so Shu's _solo_ now became a _duet.

("You're supposed to laugh at my pun, Avatar."

"Oh! I'm sorry, but I just don't see it."

"Gyatso forgot to teach you the Air Nomads' music culture, I see.)

_However, singing was not enough for Shu and Sol, and so they began to dance around each other, fire and air entwining. Moreover, as always, wherever fire and air meet, there was hot and dry smoke, and as always, whenever hot and dry smoke moves away from the fire that sired it, it turns cool, as it mixes with its father element the air, and becomes rain. Moreover, from rain came forth Tefnut, the spirit of water._

("But what about Tui and La, the ocean and the moon?"

"I'll get to them, Avatar.")

_Both Shu and Sol were surprised upon seeing their firstborn son, and not realizing the difference of his elemental nature from theirs, they touched him. Great steam arose, and also ooze, as Air, Fire, and Water touched each other for the first time, and from that mixture arose Gaea, the last of the Four great spirits._

_Great was joy of the first family, as the proud parents watched their son and daughter play with each other in the void of the first world under their mother's rays and their father's breath. Moreover, as the spirits played, they bonded, and as they bonded, they created Ra, the spirit of Life, and thus the second world was complete._

("So where does the Fifth come into this?"

"We just come to this.")

_As the second world came into being, the first world was changing beyond recognition. Where once nothing was but darkness and the cold light of stars and planets, now was warmth of air, light of fire, laughter of water, and murmurs of earth. And now they were joined by the presence of Ra, the spirit of Life, and the reflections of Ra's glory shone throughout the formerly empty first world. And from that awoke the Fifth spirit, and the name used for him by the mortals was Camazotz. And he was angry. _

_Now, there was some wondering among the scholars whether or not Camazotz is the Fifth spirit, or is it Ra. Others claim that two spirits are like twins, and thus they both share the title of the Fifth. But that is irrelevant, for Camazotz was the spirit of the first world, he was as black as coal and as cold as diamond, and he could not fathom the happiness of Shu and his family. Like a black cloak, he tried to descend onto the second world and smother it in his black grasp, but he could not – it was too warm, it was too bright for him to handle, and so he had to retreat, promising, that he'll be back._

_The other spirits paid little attention to Camazotz' threat to their future sorrow, as they were busy seeing the work of Ra, how he was busy creating fowls of air and fish of the sea, beasts of land and plants of all kind. Yet after Ra was finished, there was something missing yet, and that something was man. Ra tried to create man by himself, but every time he failed, and some of these failures, such as the winged lemurs of the Air Nomads, exist in this world up to this day._

_Therefore, the four senior spirits decided to help Ra. As the spirit of Life molded the man-shapes, Gaea gave them strength of flesh, Tefnut – blood in the veins, Sol – the fire of the soul, and Shu – the breath in the lungs, the power of speech, that made them different from Ra's initial creations…_

("Guru, I hear shouts from the outside the temple!"

"Avatar Aang, let's go. I fear that our joint time is at an end.")

Until the last few moments, Toph was feeling content perhaps the first time in her life, as there was no Sugar-Queen or Twinkletoes to distract her from just being herself. True, there was also Snoozles, but the strong flower smell and insect noises lulled him into quietness as well. And then…

…a loud, practically inhuman scream, in a voice only vaguely resembling Katara's…

…that was abruptly cut-off with a loud smack.

Toph and Sokka exchanged startled looks and ran in the direction of the abruptly cut-off scream. Sadly, they did not have to run far, as the unconscious Katara came literally flying out of the garden's depths, and only Toph's quick earthbending reflexes prevented the older girl from skidding over the temple's wall into a long drop below.

"What? How?" Sokka muttered, as the trees of the miniature copse toppled around them with a crash, and a giant in Earth Kingdom's military clothing, a chestplate, and a sword suddenly confronted him and Toph.

"Ah, two more of the Avatar's companions," the giant rumbled as he observed the two kids like a couple of bugs on a log. "Tell me where the Avatar is, and will spare you, unlike your companion."

"Spare this, mountain man!" Toph spat out, as she formed an earthbending stance and lashed out with one of her trademark moves.

The giant dodged, and launched an earthbending counterattack of his own, blocked by Toph.

"Need help?" Sokka gulped, as he saw that for the first time since they met, Toph was starting to sweat.

"Meathead… shut up. Go and get Appa and others… take Sugar-Queen, I can handle this guy."

"I doubt that, little girl," the giant's paw-like hands made a pulling movement. There were crunching sounds, and large shards of rock came flying out of the garden's soil. "I want the Avatar, and you shall not interfere."

"Meathead, run!" Toph chortled, as fissures began to open in the garden ground between her and her foe.

Instead of replying, Sokka threw his boomerang at the giant. The latter lashed out with his sword, shearing the boomerang in two, but it broke his concentration, as Toph formed a large spike of stone and slammed into his gut. For the first time, the giant staggered backwards. "Got you now," Toph muttered, and collapsed the spike, burying the giant's legs up to the knees. "Not so fast now, are you?"

Surprisingly, the giant snorted, almost as loud as an angry komodo rhino and just as friendly. "Little fool, a true earthbender gets stronger when he is in the ground! Watch!" He did a move. Sokka barely had time to pull Toph out of the way, as a great tremor ran through the garden's grounds, before finally ending in an explosion at the garden's edge. Pieces of both topsoil and bedrock flew through the air deep into the sea below. "Now that's earthbending!" the giant spoke, as he freed his feet from Toph's trap. "Now give me the Avatar."

Instead of replying, Sokka drew his club, Toph prepared to earthbend once more. Neither of them was too sure of winning this battle anymore, especially with Katara down for the count, but they were not going down without a fight. "Suit yourselves," the giant shrugged as he picked up a toppled tree without breaking stride. "I will smite you, then, without breaking a sweat and find the Avatar myself."

"Why do you want the Avatar? I'm here."


	5. Chapter 5

_It is a hard way to Fire Nation – 1_

Disclaimer: the Avatar and other characters belong to Mike and Bryan.

**V**

"Enlighten me, Ty Lee, just how we are supposed to find Zuko among all this… greenery?" grumbled Mai, as the two girls walked around the city of Ba Sing Se.

"I don't know, Mai," Ty Lee wisely restrained from mentioning that going forth into the city on their own to search for Zuko was Mai's initial idea. "I mean, we're looking for Zuko, right?"

"Yes, so?"

"And we have an idea as to where he would go, yes?"

"Yes, but we don't have idea where he would go exactly, now do we? In fact, we do not know much of the city outside of the palace at all. Therefore, maybe, we should head back and then confront Zuko once he gets back, and see what happens then," Mai said quietly.

Ty Lee frowned in concern. She could see that the initial effects on Mai from Zuko's immediate presence by now have largely worn off, and Mai was withdrawing back into her old self, and that, as far as Ty Lee was concerned, could be considered a self-defeat for Mai and her self-esteem. Something had to be done – but what? Mai certainly had good reasons to grow discouraged; it was hard to find even a familiar person in such an unfamiliar big city. Once again, for an innumerable time by now since the overpowering of the Kyoshi warriors, Ty Lee felt a feeling of wrongness. _This is a bad idea, though it does look good. We were not supposed to capture Ba Sing Se, but general Iroh, and Zuko, and possibly the Avatar. Instead…_

Ty Lee just shook her head. What has happened has happened, and she doubted that even Mai would beneficently agree to hand Ba Sing Se back to the Earth Kingdom, whatever was left of it by now anyways. It was best to concentrate, instead, on finding Zuko and hoping that he really was getting drunk due to his ill-treatment of general Iroh, and not instead finding relief in the arms of an Earth Kingdom girl. Ty Lee, however, doubted the latter – unlike general Iroh's branch of the family, Zuko (not unlike his father, actually) wasn't too interested in various girls and women back at home, and Ty Lee seriously doubted that he had changed that much since she and Mai last saw him.

On the other hand, though, this changed nothing. Wherever Zuko has went, it was a place not known to the girls, so finding him was still near impossible. What they needed was a help of a tracker of some sort…

"Hey, kids, would you watch where you are going? I'm on a business trek here!"

Mai and Ty Lee froze and instinctually turned to look at the speaker. Then, they looked up to look at the speaker, who was riding the last thing they expected to find in the capital city of Earth Kingdom.

"A Shir-shu!" Ty Lee whispered something like admiration. "I thought that they were impossible to find outside southern Fire Nation."

"They are," the Shir-shu's rider, a young – or at least youngish – tattooed woman dressed in black nodded calmly. "I and my partner, however, left southern Fire Nation long ago, but that's irrelevant. What is important is that I have been notified that there might be a job for me at Ba Sing Se's government, and you _girls_ are in a way. Please step aside." The unspoken "or else" hang in the air, but Mai was never to be intimidated easily. "I doubt that king Kuei will need any services that you can provide, and neither will the Dai Li."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," the woman replied in a somewhat wry voice. "I've heard that there's something _brewing_ in the palace. Perhaps someone _new_ will be more open to yours truly, her Shir-shu, and her services."

"Which are, we're just asking?" Ty Lee asked with her best innocent smile.

The woman rolled her revealed eye. "Tracking down and capturing various miscreants, duh," she replied. "The Shir-shu got the nose; I got the smarts and everything else."

"Really?" Mai turned thoughtful. "Then can we, perhaps, _loan_ your animal for just a while? Theirs is someone we need to track down."

"Sorry _girl_, but I doubt that your parents will be willing to spend the amount of money I want, especially if it's an untrustworthy boyfriend or someone like that."

"Who says anything about parents?" Ty Lee picked up the conversation, jumping up to the animal's back. "We're talking about _this_." She showed the woman their new identification papers, which identified them as part of the "new government" of Ba Sing Se. "If you were speaking truth beforehand, then consider yourself hired… temporarily at least, see?"

"I do see," the woman's voice was oddly and unpleasantly sarcastic, but Ty Lee, as usual, ignored it. "So I'll send the bill to the palace, right?"

"Correct," Mai nodded and climb up, as the woman jumped down and whispered something into her companion's hairy ear. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Giving my pet some instructions," the woman said calmly, and gave the creature a sharp slap on its' left thigh. "Giddy-up!"

And the Shir-shu took off like a giant squid-whale startled by a hungry Unagi eel. Neither of the girls could do anything about this, as all of their attention and skill was to stay on the galloping beast, which was quite hard, as the Shir-shu went sideways up various walls and houses, rather than just stay on the streets.

At a point, however, the Shir-shu _did_ stop doing that, but only because it and its riders suddenly found themselves _outside_ of the city, rather than inside, for a change. "How does this thing stop?" Mai grunted to Ty Lee, as the other girl clung to her back for both of their lives. "When we get back-"

The animal abruptly stopped, using the momentum to fling its riders off its back. Both girls went tumbling down the descending, rocky, woodland path, and did not find it very pleasant or painless.

Then, the tumbling stopped as the path leveled out and the two girls finally got a chance to catch their breaths and look around.

And see a large gathering of rather unpleasant-looking men. As battered and shaken-up as they were, Mai and Ty Lee were trained, and so as the less bruised – thanks to her acrobatic training – Ty Lee jumped up and ran back to get their new pet. Immediately, a shadow, man-shaped by inhumanly tall, ran-off after her. Mai, still shaking, got up on her feet as well, ready to throw her blades, but the men did the worst they could – they charged as one, yet however, before Mai could actually throw a blade and hit anyone, she was flat on her back, and there were grimy hands tying her down and pushing a gag down her throat.

And then—

"What is going on here? Where's your captain, you rabble?!"

_Zuko?_ Mai thought, her thoughts and feelings in a real jumble now, including confusion, anger, relief, and embarrassment. _What is he doing here? Does he know what is going on?_

"And who are you?" one of the men asked, speaking in the common Earth Kingdom's language but in an accent Mai had not heard before. "What do you want from Dragon?"

"I come with message from the city," Zuko said flatly, "and I do not talk to strangers."

"Yeah? Well, maybe you should re-think this plan of yours, boy," the man's blade was withdrawn from the scabbard.

FWOOSH! The bonfire next to Zuko burst in an explosion of heat and light, blinding his opponents – and Mai. "I repeat, where's your captain?" Zuko snapped.

"I'm here," spoke a low, malicious voice. "And who are you?"

"He comes from the city, probably from your "boss", sir," the sarcasm mentioning the "boss" was unmistakable, "bearing a message."

"A message?" something – or someone – heavy was dropped next to Mai.

"Ty Lee?" she tried to mumble through her gag. She was replied with some whimpers and sobs. Ty Lee never whimpered or sobbed in public as long as Mai knew her. What was going on?

"Samazan? You be my eyes. What says Long Feng?"

"That the city is Fire Nation's now, and only some signatures on this here accord are required to deliver the coup-de-gras."

"Good," the mocking laughter came once more. "Long Feng may be something of a tarantula-scorpion in a human's guise, but he does know how to plot, eh, buddy?"

"I'm not your buddy, Mr. Dragon."

"Dragon? Hmm, call me rather Black Dragon, or Hsu Wu, if you prefer."

"Hsu Wu… doesn't that make you from Gaoling or similar lands?"

"Why, so it does. What of it?"

"Ever heard of Toph Bei Fong, the amazing blind prodigy?"

"Oh yes," now malice got completely converted into venom, "I do know of the amazing blind scion of the Bei Fong family. Just like general Iroh, this is one loud bag of hot air?"

Mai held her breath. Surely, Zuko won't let his uncle get insulted to his face?

"You knew him?" Zuko's self-control got clearly better, as he did _not_ start a confrontation.

"I've heard of him from my commander-in-chief, general Chang-ho. He was not of a high opinion of his Fire Nation opposite; if the man had not been Azulon's first born, he would never become anything special, let alone the Dragon of the West."

"And yet you're a Dragon yourself?"

"Ah, young man, there are very different approaches to dragons here and back in the Fire Nation."

"Actually, this is Fire Nation, technically speaking."

The man who was called Black Dragon by others and himself, laughed. It was an odd laughter, empty of mirth or any other emotion. It was more of an imitation of laughter, rather than the real thing.

"I like that you got a sense of humor, young man," Black Dragon spoke up after he finished laughing. "Yet politics aside, culture-wise it'll be more than another hundred years before the whole _new_ Fire Nation will stop having cultural differences from one end to the other, my commander-in-chief's efforts not withstanding; why even now he's moving in to squash some rebels in the Chameleon Bay. But that's not the point."

"What is the point, then?"

"That when Fire Nation speaks of dragons, they think of something like a hai riyo, a glorious winged beast full of fire – or at least that's what Samazan here told me. Earth Kingdom, though, when it talks of dragons, it talks of something like a peluda, an ambushing monster of the forest, that moves about as fast as a foo turtle used to, but strikes fast, from cover!"

"I see," Zuko said in a tone that suggested that he did not. "Anyways, I was told that you will sign?"

"Ah yes, so you were. Samazan, the writing utensils!.. However, back to Toph Bei Fong. How did you hear of her?"

"Don't you know? She's traveling with the Avatar now, teaching him earthbending."

"She does, does she now? Well, then it's too bad – I was planning on merely capturing her, but general Chang-ho will most likely execute her along with the Avatar and any other rabble he had allied himself with."

"There's quite a big reward for her to be brought home alive."

"General Chang-ho doesn't care much for the rewards, especially from the westerners. In Earth Kingdom there always been quite a difference between men of west, east, and center, and they aren't likely to go away in the next hundred years either."

"Sounds like you don't believe that Long Feng has the right idea."

"I don't believe Long Feng either. The man wants personal power, and he doesn't care from which source."

"You mean, he could've betrayed this whole scheme to the Avatar?"

"Now that's a good question. Now, he would not do that, because the Avatar holds no power. From what we have heard, he is just some little boy with a lot of bending power and no idea of how the world works. I admit it will give me great pleasure to learn how general Chang-ho will crush him, and kill him personally – apparently, he has uncovered some sort of a ritual to prevent the Avatar from getting reincarnated ever again – ah, here's Samazan. Where am I to sign?"

"That would be here."

"Good. All done?"

"Yes. I'll be going now… and be taking these girls with me."

"Now see here," a new voice, Samazan, joined in the discussion. "These girls-"

"-are the princess's handmaidens. They are Fire Nation's nobility."

"So what? If they aren't too different from Earth Kingdom's nobility-"

"Samazan shut it," Black Dragon did not intend to have a discussion. "By tomorrow we'll enter the city, help the Dai Li overpower yet another bending prodigy brat, and take her as an ambassador to the Fire Nation proper. Moreover, if something happens to her handmaidens… well, there is the Avatar to be blamed – until the general takes off his head. Young man, take these girls and go."

"Don't mind if I will."

Aang could not believe his eyes. The temple's gardens, formerly a neat and serene place for meditation, now were a battlefield with uprooted trees and shrubs, and destroyed stream. Furthermore, it was a battlefield for a while now, as Katara's unconscious state, and Sokka and Toph's disheveled ones, demonstrated.

Standing between them and the temple, like some sort of a strange monument to the element of war, was a huge hairy giant, dressed in Earth Kingdom's military clothes, but with a chestplate and a huge sword added on as well.

"I am here," Aang repeated, trying to act braver than how he felt, and failing at that rather miserably. Even the Fire Nation's royalty (not counting Iroh) have not looked as intimidating as the giant.

"You? You are the Avatar?" the giant's voice shook with incredulity and possibly laughter. "And I thought my scouts were exaggerating, when they said that you were a mere whisp of boy – what's the matter, didn't have enough to eat?"

"It's his diet, he doesn't eat meat," Sokka piped-up despite his better intentions, even as he and Toph desperately dragged Katara over to the damaged streambed, using the fact that the giant seemed to have stopped paying attention to them for the moment.

"Of course he doesn't – typical Air Nomad," the giant shook his head. "They could not afford to have meat animals of their own, so rather than bending their "ethnic pride" – whatever that was – and asking my people to share, they stopped eating any!"

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I have helped to destroy them!"

Aang felt as if the giant has physically punched in the gut. "What? Why? You're not from Fire Nation!"

"Long ago, your previous incarnation – Kyoshi – stopped my ancestor from claiming the crown of the Earth King. Now it is time to pay that price, and not even your timidity shall assist you!"

It was only reflexes, honed to near perfection by long practices with Toph that saved Aang, as the ground beneath him exploded upwards in an attempt to pin him to the ceiling of the temple's corridor. Instead, Aang's jump took him clear into the air outside the temple, where he unleashed an air blast onto the giant. The giant raised an earth shield, which absorbed Aang's attack, and then he threw a toppled dwarf tree, which he held in one of his hands as a club, at Aang with such force, that he almost knocked him from the sky.

"So, that's the way how you going to do it," the giant smirked. "Typical airbender! Try to wear the enemy down if your back's to the wall, eh?"

"That is quite enough sacrilege and blasphemy from you, general!"

The giant – a general? – slowly turned around. In fact, everybody did, as the old guru appeared in the formerly blocked temple corridor.

Sadly, this lull in action was too brief, as the general recovered his bearings almost immediately. "Ah, the guru," the general smirked. "I've heard something about you from one of my adjutants. Tell you what – you stay out of this, and I won't break your old pot of a head!"

Instead of replying, the old guru gave the general one long final look of contempt, and then threw something to Aang, who instinctively caught it.

"You forgot this, Avatar!"

Aang's eyes widened in recognition – this was Appa's whistle; he must have forgotten it inside, when he rushed outside at the sounds of the battle. Without further delay – he and his friends were clearly outmatched at this battle – he blew into it.

"No!" the general too must have realized what exactly the guru threw to Aang. "Cavalry archers! Kill them all!"

Men armed with sword and bows, riding lizards similar to the basilisk but more suited to climbing than running on the water, burst over the garden's walls. The ones in the front lines were already ready to fire their bows.

Toph's earthbending move erupted underneath the lizards' feet, causing the archers' shots to go wide. At the same time, Appa, already carrying king Kuei, Bosco, and Momo, appeared on the scene, ready to fly.

Without further ado, Toph quickly used an earthbending move to kick herself and the Water Tribe siblings into the air and onto the bison's back. This none-too-gentle approach startled already spooked Appa further, and so he flew as quickly as he could straight to the Avatar, who found himself literally slammed into Appa's nape.

"Avatar – go," the old guru's voice sounded surprisingly clear as the spooked lizards and their riders recovered their footing. "Go and save the world!"

Before Aang could protest, Appa was already flying away.

As the Avatar and his friends vanished in the sky, general Chang-ho measured guru Pathik with an ugly glance.

"You're going down, even if you did train Hsu for a while," he snarled.

The guru did not justify the giant man with a reply. Instead, he prepared for his last battle.

It was some time, until Mai felt like she was ready to talk and that the aftereffects of Zuko's not-so-little explosion – when and where did he learn to firebend like that? – faded from her eyes.

"Zuko," she leaned to her left, "we-"

"Not now, Mai," Zuko looked away from her. "We'll talk once we're back inside the city. What you were doing out of the city anyways?"

Mai paused, then realized that her pride already took a beating today and could probably afford to have another. "We were, uh, looking for you," she admitted quietly. "Ty Lee sort of goaded me into it, and I complied. We met a woman riding a beast named the Shir-shu-"

Zuko stiffened, but Mai did not really notice it.

"-and it took us to that accursed place. Now Zuko, what were you doing?"

"What did it sound like?" Zuko said quietly. "I was settling some formalities concerning _Azula's_ actions."

"Yes, but-"  
"Mai, shush," Ty Lee spoke up for the first time since their crazy ride on the eyeless beast. "Zuko's right. Now is really neither the hour nor the place to speak of that. Let's get back and then…we'll talk."

Both Mai and Zuko paused briefly and turned to the other girl. Unlike her usual self, this Ty Lee seemed to have lost her usual bounce and upbeat attitude, and seemed to be genuinely depressed for one. Both other teens, themselves knowing something about depression, fell like hugging the slimmer girl.

"Ty Lee, you okay?" Mai asked for once with genuine concern for her friend. "Did that Dragon man hurt you?"

"No. He did not. I saw his aura. It was enough."

"But didn't you tell me earlier today that a person's aura-"

"-is a reflection of his inner self, I know," Ty Lee said, nodding. "Thanks for remembering. Well, Black Dragon's aura – and consequently, his inner self, is not anything any person has a right to have!"

"Not even if compared to mine or Azula's?"

Mai whipped her head around when she heard the tone with which Zuko said the last phrase. Ty Lee too, abruptly stiffened and looked straight at Zuko. "Zuko, I know that you are not very impressed by your own actions or Azula's, but trust me – neither of you are anywhere _near_ what Hsu Wu has. A Black Dragon indeed!"

A loud, animal growl prevented Ty Lee from speaking further. All three of them stiffened. "Who's there?" Zuko called out quietly, his right fist flaming from firebending. "Show yourself!"

"Now be courteous, Zuko," jokingly spoke a familiar female voice, and from the darkness came the woman, now once more riding on her beast. When, however, she saw that Zuko was not alone, her mood clearly soured. "Oh, and I see you got companions with you."

"Yes, Jun, I have," Zuko said coldly. "Now let's get back into the city. We all need to talk."


	6. Chapter 6

_It is a hard way to Fire Nation – 1_

Disclaimer: the Avatar and other characters belong to Mike and Bryan.

**VI**

"Well, this is cozy," Mai muttered, just not too loudly, as their other companions through an unnoticeable gate in the city's walls have led Ty Lee and her into some sort of a second-hand pub, the Grizzlyphant or something like that. "Can we start talking now?"

"But certainly," spoke-up the black-clad woman – Jun – for Mai was beginning something suspiciously like hatred, or at least – very passionate dislike. "Zuko, you being the only male on these premises involved, will start."

"Very well," Zuko shrugged, "let's get to the basics first. Does anybody here know the idea of "privatization"?"

"It means owning something, right?" Ty Lee piped up before anyone else could.

"Pretty much, yes. Well, more correctly, it means owning private property," Zuko nodded. "To continue, Long Feng apparently considers this city to be _his_ private property, and will go to any length to make it so."

"And getting us and more importantly - Azula involved made it possible how?" Ty Lee asked, before Mai could. "Seriously, the Fire Nation now owns Ba Sing Se, not Long Feng."

"Ty Lee, Ty Lee," Zuko shook his head in disappointment. "We're a bit far from the Fire Nation, not even if we had a flying bison of our own. The best that Fire Nation will get from Ba Sing Se will be a formal recognition that we owe it, plus some sort of a show of obeisance, plus some taxes, tithes, other monies sent to us over the same distance. The same distance will mean that it'll be quite some time before our troops and officials will be able – _if _they will be able – to take over the city from Long Feng and his Dai Li."

"_If _they will be able?" Ty Lee was not about to back down. "Of course they will! We have won! The war is over!"

"Maybe, but Long Feng has a liaison with the army of general Chang-ho, whose charming adjutant, Black Dragon, you had the pleasure of meeting earlier tonight. For some reason – maybe after being in Long Feng's personal company – I suspect that that army is in much better shape than ours, especially with the attrition."

"You know about the attrition?" Mai gave Zuko a sharp look.

He gave her a look of his own right back. "Why shouldn't I?"

Mai felt her face grow warm again. "Er, well, Azula said-"

"Can we get on track, please," Jun's voice cut like a knife into the discussion. "What is the plan now, Zuko?"

"I don't think I'll be able to convince Long Feng for any long time that I buy his story about him being the loyal agent of the Fire Nation," Zuko shook his head. "Furthermore, with Azula out of the picture, I'm not sure that he'll go on selling it either. More likely he will try to do to me what he did the exiled Earth King – isolate and give me only version of information. Only, well, in this case, something will give-out sooner than later – and that is before Hsu will get involved. Clearly, there is little love lost between those two, and I would prefer it if they fought it out between themselves without me in the middle."

"So, you're leaving instead? No wonder your aura has changed – you have gotten smarter in the process," Ty Lee sat up, as she grew actually thoughtful. "Then, the only question is, where would this leave us?"

"In over your heads, as you were before you got a clue of the reality," Jun's voice was hardly sympathetic. "You should've stuck with capturing people, not cities."

"You're right," Mai suddenly spoke up, surprising everyone else. "We did make a mistake in listening to those Dai Li field agents. This was not part of our plan, this was a part of someone else's plan, and according to it, we are being relocated to the position of the figures removed from the board, so it is useless to gripe. What we need, is to get out of here as well."

"But Mai-"

"Ty Lee, no buts. What is your problem, anyways? You do not want to stay, I remember just how broken you were back there, just from a look at that man's aura. So why you are now all prepped up to fight?"

"Because," Ty Lee turned to her friend, "don't you see? Zuko is not coming with us; he's going with his uncle and possible friends to someplace else!"

Mai slowly turned to Zuko. "Is it true?"

Zuko sighed. "Mai, obviously that me and Azula will not be traveling any sort of the same road in the future – at least near future. I stayed only to help get out of this mess and now it looks like my job is done."

"This mess?" Mai asked, confused.

"Yes, Mai. Long Feng has already "privatized" the city, now he plans to "privatize" either me or Azula, leaving you unnecessary, incidentally."

Mai and Ty Lee exchanged miserable looks. "But Zuko… Azula is our friend, we can't just leave her!"

"Then take you with her," Zuko shrugged. "Jun…"

"What?" Jun said, looking not very pleased with the last statement.

"They will need supplies to pull it off."

"So?"

For few brief moments, the two just glared at each other, and finally Jun sighed. "Fine. I will give you a couple of backpacks of supplies for you to get a brief giveaway. You'll need to do something about your princess friend, though."

"What do you mean?" Mai asked, concerned once more.

"It's her birthday, tomorrow, and Long Feng has ordered to make a chocolate cake in her honor. With rum. She will be out of it by the next afternoon, at best – the next evening. Then they'll have you."

"But how he did- you. You told him."

"What can I say? He thinks I hate her and want to fight her. I could not disappoint him, because otherwise he would turn to Azula instead, and she'd turn on me for real, wouldn't she?"

Something seemed to crack in Mai's impassive façade. "You two will never really reconcile, will you?" she said miserably. "And you no longer want to be the Fire Lord either, do you?"

"Why do you care, Mai?"

"Because I think I love you, you dolt!" Mai snapped.

"Well, this isn't quite how I expected it to happen," in the ensuing silence, Ty Lee said.

"That's because real life always isn't quite what you expected," Jun replied. "Get used to this knowledge – it'll make your life easier… now stop staring at each other, you two!"

"Damn it, Mai, how did it happen? One moment we were dancing at Lu Ten's parties because of circumstances, and the next… we're here."

"You always were a good dancer, Zuko," Mai said with a small smile. "Not to mention the only one who would dance with me rather than with Ty Lee."

"Yeah," the two Fire Nation teens chorused as one. "It was so innocent, where it all went to?"

"You grew up," Jun said matter-of-factly. "And as people grow up, they change."

"Everything changes," Zuko snapped. "Including times of day and of year. I heard enough of _change_ from uncle."

"And when you free him, you'll here more of it."

Zuko shook his head. "Doesn't matter. I owe him way too much to abandon him just because he irritates me – the opposite worked true, I know."

"Good, then let's get on with it, time is ticking, and your lady friends need help for their own safeties," Jun nodded. "Let's get to planning and working things out!"

"So, uh, what was that all about?" ex-King Kuei asked meekly, seeing that his companions were even worse for wear than when they fled Ba Sing Se.

"I am not sure," Sokka said. "I mean, we're used to military men going after the Avatar – there's Zuko, and there was Zhao, though he must've died at the North Pole, otherwise we would've heard from him by now, and then there's Azula, who is a girl, but is almost manlier than Aang."

Aang whirled around and glared at Sokka. "Now isn't the time for jokes, Sokka!"

"Twinkletoes, you're right."

"I am?" Aang blinked, as this was one of those rare times when Toph agreed with him.

"You are. Now isn't the time for jokes, now is the time for plans."

"What plans? We go to Chameleon Bay, revive Katara, tell Dad that Ba Sing Se has fallen and they should get out of there, and go and defeat Ozai in the Fire Nation."

"Have you forgotten that Twinkletoes got no mentor for firebending? We need to get back to Ba Sing Se and rescue Teabag first."

"Teabag?"

"General Iroh."

"What? Angry Jerk's nephew? No way! I'd rather we go and find Jeong-Jeong instead!"

"Oh yes, a perfect stranger-"

"To you, maybe. _We_ know him."

"Oh, is it back to the old _we_ versus _me_ debate? Haven't you reached an understanding-"

"Guys!" Aang yelled desperately. "How about we revive Katara first and then wonder what to do and who's going to teach me? Moreover, Toph, Sokka is right. We will need to go and warn his dad and his people that Ba Sing Se has fallen. But we will rescue Iroh – now that we finally got Appa back, I promise."

"Fine," though still grumbling, Toph relented. "But I really hope we don't meet this guy any time soon. He's even worse than Long Feng!"

"Not to mention, you couldn't beat him," Sokka said wryly.

"Not to mention, he ruined your boomerang," Toph snapped back.

Upon remembering his beloved boomerang cut in two, Sokka's face puckered up and he looked like he was doing his best not to cry.

"Sokka, Toph didn't mean to say it so meanly," Aang hurriedly said.

Both Toph and Sokka stared back at him. "So meanly? Aang, it's Toph," Sokka shook his head. "She always says it meanly, you know? Look, let us stop fighting for a moment, and decide what to do right now. I vote for landing, because it will be light soon, Appa will be more noticeable, and we could use a bit of more rest ourselves. Any counterarguments?"

"None at the spur of the moment; Twinkletoes?"

"No," Aang shook his head. "Let's just find first a place near a river, or the coast, or-"

"I think there's a river down there to our right," king Kuei pointed out.

"Why, so there is!" Sokka said, almost smiling. "See, Aang? Our luck is changing already. Let's go down to that big river now and rest for a while, okay?"

"Fine," Aang nodded. For some reason, he doubted now that that was a good idea, but since he was the first to suggest… Aang kept quiet.

"What are your next commands, Excellency?" Qeng Yi asked his commander-in-chief, as he and the rest of Chang-ho's cavalry were finishing looting the Air Temple.

"First," Chang-ho grunted, "have Li Po send a message with Ore Echo to Hsu. Tell him to finish as soon as possible with Long Feng's legal rigmarole, and go and join the rest of my army at the Chameleon Bay. Second, finish the job, and prepare to ride to rejoin the rest of the army as well."

"What is the route, sir?"

"Along the riverbed, fool! That's the quickest!"

"Yes sir!" Qeng Yi hurried away.

Chang-ho smiled a smile that thirsted for blood. He almost had the Avatar hours before, and perhaps in a matter of days he will have him in his grasp yet.

In the last day or so, the retired general Iroh had had much to think about, especially since the only people who visited him, were the Dai Li agents, and they were not much communicative with him either. However, that was fine; Iroh had the kitsune's words to ponder about. Moreover, as he did, he could not help but feel rather foolish as well.

When it had come to Zuko's choice, he mused, he did not handle it too well; especially since Zuko had always had been the hardheaded one when it came to change. Azula, for all of her flaws, was very flexible in her approach to her goals, whatever they would be now.

Iroh frowned. For some reason he could not quite pinpoint, but his niece's capture of the whole Ba Sing Se struck him as not quite right. Treacherous Dai Li or no, to hold this city under control once they learned the truth, his family would need to use an entire garrison worth of troops – troops that Iroh wasn't sure that they'd be able to spare.

And if they couldn't? What then? Iroh felt his old-time instincts tingling. Ba Sing Se already proved itself the unmovable obstacle that overpowered Fire Nation's flood of conquering, perhaps this time it will be even worse.

Thinking of worse made Iroh's words turn to his nephew and the kitsune's promise about him. Did a spirit really visit him in this cell, or had it been just his delusions, caused by disappointment? In either case, Iroh decided, he will find out about it soon enough, and went to sleep.


End file.
